Travel in Books - Iran

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Book

• 📖 The Lion Women of Tehran - Marjan Kamali | 🌍 Iran 1950-2022

  
  

The Lion Women of Tehran

by Marjan Kamali

The story of Ellie and Homa led me to travel through Tehran from 1950 to 2022. Two friends from two very different social backgrounds and consequently with very different opportunities and unequal forms of wealth (material and internal). This book made me think about the place where we are born and the luck we do or do not have. Think about feminism, about the struggle of women. About having Freedom and rights that we assume are guaranteed and to which we give no value because we have always taken them as the norm.

We begin the journey in Tehran in 1950. A cosmopolitan city undergoing modernization — “Tree-lined streets and bustling cafés gave Tehran a rhythm all its own”. There is a sense of cultural openness — “In the cafés of Tehran, people talk over tea, as if time slowed down”. There is a bazaar where ice creams are sold — “Old walls stood beside modern buildings, each telling a different story” and “The city pulsed with movement — vendors calling out, cars weaving, people hurrying past". In this way, Tehran is presented to us as “the city of possibilities, alive with promise”.

However, there is also a Shah with strict rules regarding women’s parental rights. In the event of a divorce, children are given to the father. There is struggle in the streets for these laws to be revised, and many advances are achieved through the fight of Iranian women. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, they walk in the streets just like us (each one has the freedom to choose what to wear), they attend university, they dream of becoming judges. But they are also arrested for protesting, subjected to acts of torture, and must have the courage to organize demonstrations illegally that say everything without saying anything.

We grow up with Ellie and Homa, and we arrive at an Iran where the Shah is overthrown and Ruhollah Khomeini comes to power, establishing an Islamic republic. The end of the monarchy and the departure of the Shah are celebrated, without realizing that the alternatives prove not very different. Women lose rights every day and now no longer even have the Freedom to wear what they want. Tehran becomes tense and unpredictable — “The streets that once echoed with laughter now tremble with chants and unrest”. There is policing, military presence, constant surveillance and increasing restrictions, with a special focus on women — “A fear settled over Tehran, like a shadow that would not leave”.

The struggle continues to this day but the Iranian lionesses do not give up. They are tired of control, repression, the lack of Freedom of expression, and of having their dreams, talents and abilities limited — “Let them beat me with their batons, let them break my body with blows, let them shoot me and kill me. We have fought for a lifetime. We want to be free. We want equality. We want to be able to live our lives”.

As the author says: this is just a story, but there is power in stories and “Iranian women know that”. May we not forget the struggles that women face all over the world and, in this case, may we not forget the Shir zan — “women as brave as lionesses”.

Thank you, Marjan, for this amazing story of women rights and a friendship that a part from all remains faithfull until the end.

Always yours,

Uncanned Sardine